Gear Review: Primus Gravity II EF & Primus LiTech Trek Kettle

Primus Gravity II EF:

The Gravity II EF is a remote canister gas-powered stove, it has a built-in piezo ignition, is pretty light at ca. 270g, and packs relatively small in it’s own waterproof case. As it sits quite low to the ground and is remote from the canister, it is therefore both stable and easy to shield from the wind. It also comes with fold-away heat and wind shields. The Gravity is quite powerful and efficient too, with an alleged boil time of around 2min 15s for 1L of water. I found that it was capable of properly heating a Wayfayrer ready meal in ca. 5 minutes at around 3/4 power, as opposed to the 8 minutes suggested by Wayfayrer.

Stove and 230g canister for scale. Note the melted ignition.

The problem with this stove is the piezo ignition. It’s mostly made of plastic and is positioned so that heat from the stove is easily able to affect the ignition mechanism causing it to melt down to an unusable state. There are widespread reports of this, and it has happened on my unit too however, piezo ignitions whilst convenient, should never be solely relied upon, always being backed up by some wind/water-proof matches. If you take this into consideration, the loss of the ignition is not too much of a problem, plus I think it is balanced out by the advantages of the stove, i.e. it’s efficiency, stability and the fact that it can be upgraded to a multi-fuel stove as and when needed, in conjunction with an adaptor kit, (sold separately).

The Trek Kettle, (1L), is light at 267g, robust, and a good size for two. It will fit a 2207 gas canister, (medium size, 230g), inside, the lid doubles as a frying pan and both pan and pot have a good quality non-stick coating. The frying pan is able to fit a couple of pieces of bacon, or two sausages cut in half, at a time, so it’s small but sufficient if you want to share and keep weight down. The bottom of the pot section is grooved, so as to prevent slippage on the stove, and will fit a couple of Wayfayrer meals at once.